Joe Biden: I 'honest to God don't know who' VP pick will be

Nicholas Wu / USA TODAY

Friday

May 22, 2020 at 11:41 AM

Former Vice President Joe Biden said in a Thursday television interview he had not yet decided on a running mate, saying on CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," "I honest to God don’t know who" he would pick.

Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said he had discussed the issue with former President Barack Obama, though he declined to cite names under consideration.

Recalling his own selection as vice president, Biden said he and Obama had talked about being "in complete alignment" on strategic issues even if they disagreed on tactics. Biden said he had also been picked for his experience on foreign policy and long tenure in the Senate.

Biden said he was looking for someone whose attributes would "complement" his own.

Asked if Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., had undergone a deep background check by his team, Biden said "no one has been vetted yet."

A team had gone out to ask "preliminary" vice-presidential candidates a list of questions about their interest in the job, Biden said, adding the vetting would begin later. Biden called vetting a "very invasive" process of looking at "every vote they've ever taken," financial statements, and health records.

He told Colbert he would not discuss who is under consideration because if someone were not cited as being on the list, the "presumption is not necessarily true that there must be something wrong.”

Biden said he had been advised by a former Obama aide to "‘think to yourself. You’ve got an important decision. Who’s the last person you want in the Oval Office to talk to you?’”

Biden has said he wants a woman to be his running mate.

He announced his vice presidential selection committee last month, which is being chaired by former U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd; U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; and Cynthia Hogan, former White House and Senate counsel to Biden.

Several media outlets reported Thursday Klobuchar and Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., had been asked by the Biden campaign to begin the formal vetting process.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said Tuesday on the "Today" show she had "a conversation with some folks" on the Biden campaign about being his running mate.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, another subject of vice presidential speculation, announced her endorsement of Biden for president on Friday.

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